Pages

Tuesday, 6 May 2014

Gluing pins

I have done lots of welding again today. I do not win any prizes for beauty in my welding but I think it is strong enough. I admire people that can do it really well. Practice makes perfect I suppose. I have glued the first of the stainless rods into the marble. The rods have to be stainless as regular mild steel would rust and split the marble. Stainless steel will never rust. The stainless steel you see here will be hidden underground. I have cogitated a good deal about the best way to hold these carvings upright and in the end have decided to simply insert three huge ‘pins’ into each carving. I am relying on all the stiffness coming from the stainless steel.Three pins 42mm thick will be immensely strong however. You can see that I have added to the stiffness further by adding little shoulders to the joint.It is always helpful to have a sculpture with a broad base as it is easy to make it stable. A sculpture with a small base like this is difficult, like trying to stand up on a rolling ship on one leg.